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Hileman for judge

I would like to endorse Bill Hileman in the upcoming election for the position of Whitefish municipal judge. Bill brings with him 40 years of local legal experience. A lifelong Flathead Valley resident and member of the Whitefish community since 1977, Bill brings a perspective and understanding that only comes from years of being part of the local community. In addition, he brings valuable judicial experience through his work as a judge in Columbia Falls.

The qualities I look for in a municipal judge are legal knowledge, dependability, honesty and integrity; someone who is fair-minded and even-tempered. Bill has all these qualities and in my opinion would make an excellent judge. —Rick Nelson, Whitefish

Montana Chamber exposes itself

Montana Chamber of Commerce’s favorite legislator (MVP) for 2017 is Frank “Gas Tax” Garner. This has caused quite a stir.

Studying the Chamber’s website, interesting trends emerge. Most big-government Democrats and fiscally conservative Republicans scored in the same range: 40s to 60s. Socialist Gov. Bullock got a similar score (61) to many of our conservative Republicans.

The list of legislators who scored highest, (>80, Chamber’s favorites) reads like a who’s who of big-government tax-raising Republicans. Analyzing the data, the path for this pattern emerges. Frank Garner’s gas-tax infrastructure bill was worth five to 15 times more points than most of the other bills (some appealing to Democrats, some to Republicans). As sponsor, Garner got extra-credit points. The majority of conservative Republicans voted against the gas-tax bill, reflecting negatively on their scores. The Chamber’s MVP for 2015 was big-government Sen. Bruce Tutvedt. Looking at the Montana Infrastructure Coalition (“under the umbrella” of the Chamber)website, the cost of being a voting member appears cost prohibitive to small contractors. I count 13 contractors listed as voting members — want to wager a bet they’ll be on the short list of the ones getting the infrastructure contracts? You know, those contracts paid for by the taxpayers?

The Chamber touts itself as a business advocate, promoting business prosperity. The evidence from their website suggests the Chamber advocates for the prosperity of businesses subsidized by our already exorbitant taxes, not free-market business principles. The Chamber would not succeed in laying this tax burden on us without the cooperation of the likes of Frank Garner and Bruce Tutvedt. The Montana Chamber of Commerce choices for MVP have exposed that organization for what it is: promoter of legislators who vote for higher taxes to subsidize already wealthy business owners. —Annie Bukacek, Bigfork

Support Hileman

We have lived in Whitefish for 31 years, and we have known Bill Hileman for almost that long.

He is a strong advocate of our community and has volunteered for many civic organizations over the years. More importantly, he has the well rounded legal experience and diverse background in issues of the law to make him, in our opinion, the absolute best candidate for the job of Whitefish Municipal Court Judge.

We are proud to vote for Bill Hileman and we hope you will join us. —Carol and Richard Atkinson, Whitefish

Immigration innovation

I’m not sure we are approaching this whole immigration issue with the right thought process. In the EB-5 investment program, foreigners who put hard dollars into rural projects get to jump to the head of the line for green cards for their children. Very popular these days with Chinese investors throwing dollars at health-care investments in exchange for getting their children into American universities.

While this smacks of elitism, why not adopt the same approach for everyone. Currently, if you want to get into college, you have to take the ACT or SAT, write an essay of why you should be admitted and what you would bring to the institution, and compete with other interested candidates.

If we truly believe in a competitive free market, we should apply that to immigration. Essentially, we should use a bidding system — but one that considers other factors than just investment capital. For example, if a potential immigrant has an advanced aerospace degree and is dying to work for NASA — then that should be assigned a point value and compared to other candidates. If someone is a political refugee and is willing to commit to paying an extra 10 percent tax on income over the rest of their life — that would add up to a different point rating. If someone was brought here by their parents illegally but is dedicated to the country (as far as I understand it, we don’t get to choose who are parents are — although, obviously I was very lucky to have great ones who were smart enough themselves to be born in America) then that should be part of the calculation.

Let’s be smart about who is going to be let in, who is already here and who cares the most about being an American. Serve in the military? God bless America, and let’s let them (presuming honorable service). If they are willing to pay higher taxes and bring additional value to the country because they have unique skills or are just willing to work harder — then this is exactly who WE should compete to attract. Free markets work when we are willing to value those who contribute.

One of my business partners escaped from Poland before the wall fell. He is an astrophysicist. His sons went to Brown University in the Ivy League and the other to West Point. This is exactly who should be here — whether it was legal or not at the time. —Bobby Lopp, Kalispell